Ɛpsilon

WCP4622

Postcard (WCP4622.4936)

[1]1

[4 February 1895]2

I hope to have copies of my "Evolution"3 article in a few days & will send you a couple. The article was in print last September, but being long was crowded out month after month & only now got in by being cut in two.

I think I have demolished "discontinuous variation" as having any but the most subordinate part in Evolution of species. B.4 is a laboratory naturalist and seems quite unable to grasp nat. select. — G-n5 even more so! Congratulations on P. Ent. Soc. What a nasty thing that was about the lost? specimens.

A.R. Wallace [signature]

1
Meldola, Raphael (1849-1915). British chemist and entomologist.
2
Date stamped on postcard.
3
Wallace, A. R. 1895. The method of organic evolution, I. Fortnightly Review 57 (338): 211-224; The method of organic evolution, II. Fortnightly Review 57 (339): 435-445.
4
Bateson, William (1861-1926). Pioneering British geneticist and supporter of the work of Gregor Mendel. One of the key figures behind the modern synthesis in evolutionary biology.
5
Galton, Francis (1822-1911). British biostatistician, polymath and founder of eugenics. One of the key figures in 19th Century research into heredity. Half-cousin of Charles Darwin.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Postcard (WCP4622.4936)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Lord, Annette [2012-07-26] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Published letter (WCP4622.6429)

[1] [p. 62]

February 4, 1895.

My dear Professor Meldola,— I hope to have copies of my "Evolution" article in a few days, and will send you a [2] [p. 63] couple. The article was in print last September, but, being long, was crowded out month after month, and only now got in by being cut in two. I think I have demolished "discontinous vartiation" as having any but the most subordinate part in evolution of species.

Congratulations on Presidency of the Entomological Society.

A. R. WALLACE.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP4622.6429)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Sherwood, Danni [2020-06-09] Transcription checked by Lo, Yen [2020-10-30] Transcription checked by Chua, Christine [2026-04-18]

Please cite as “WCP4622,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4622